New Delhi, Oct 12: The opposition ‘Mahagathbandhan’ alliance in Bihar is likely to finalise its seat-sharing in the next few days and may announce its candidates along with a joint manifesto this week.
Top sources said talks between the RJD and Congress are underway, and their leadership may meet on Monday as RJD chief Lalu Prasad and Tejashwi Yadav are in the national capital.
When asked about the seat-sharing, Lalu Prasad said the talks are on among the alliance partners. “There is a meeting of the alliance. Talks are on,” he told reporters.
However, his son Tejashwi Yadav said, “We have come here as the court has called us.” He did not elaborate further.
The RJD chief and his family members are likely to appear in a court here in a case related to the land-for-jobs scam on Monday.
The Yadavs were received at the airport by some Congress leaders.
The Congress is likely to get a lesser number of seats than the last time due to its dismal performance in the 2020 assembly polls, when it won 19 out of 70 seats it contested.
“The Congress president has been speaking to all the coalition partners in Bihar, and the final discussion is on for deciding candidates in a few seats where the Congress and some other parties feel they are strong.
“The Congress president is talking to all political leaders for the last two days in Bihar,” Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said.
He said the talks between the leaderships of RJD and Congress are also on and the leaders of the two main parties may also meet by Monday.
On the delay in seat-sharing announcement, Ramesh said, “We have to adjust some new partners in the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ and we have to adjust them too in seat-sharing.”
“In the next two-three days, we expect all the seats to be finalised and declared,” he said.
Asked about the number of seats the Congress will contest this time, Ramesh said, “Anything between half a century and a century”.
However, sources said the Congress will get more than 50 but less than 70 seats, which the Congress had contested the last time in the Bihar polls. They added that top Congress leaders would be meeting at the party headquarters on Monday for finalising candidates in some more seats in the Bihar assembly polls.
About the electoral prospects of the opposition ‘Mahagathbandhan’ in Bihar, Ramesh said, “The desire for change is there in Bihar and the charge-sheet released by the Congress evoked a very good response.”
On the “jungle-raj” narrative of the BJP against RJD rule, he said that “people are worried about today and not what happened 20 years ago”.
“People realise and know that Nitish Kumar is not in control and he is only a face now. He is not going to come back as chief minister and is not the same as he was 20 years ago,” the Congress leader said and accused the BJP of indulging in polarisation in Bihar too. (PTI)
